The present application relates generally to power systems and, more particularly, to power distribution systems and methods of operating and/or testing a power distribution system.
Known electrical distribution systems include a plurality of switchgear lineups including circuit breakers that are each coupled to one or more loads. The circuit breakers typically include a trip unit that controls the circuit breakers based upon sensed current flowing through the circuit breakers. More specifically, the trip unit causes current flowing through the circuit breaker to be interrupted if the current is outside of acceptable conditions.
For example, at least some known circuit breakers are programmed with one or more current thresholds (also known as “pickup” thresholds) that identify undesired current levels for the circuit breaker. If a fault draws current in excess of one or more current thresholds for a predetermined amount of time, for example, the trip unit typically activates the associated circuit breaker to stop current from flowing through the circuit breaker. However, in power distribution systems that include a plurality of circuit breakers, a typical arrangement uses a hierarchy of circuit breakers. Large circuit breakers (i.e., circuit breakers with a high current rating) are positioned closer to a power source than lower current feeder circuit breakers and feed the lower current feeder circuit breakers. Each feeder circuit breaker may feed a plurality of other circuit breakers, which connect to loads or other distribution equipment.
A fault may occur anywhere in the circuit breaker hierarchy. When a fault occurs, each circuit breaker that has the same fault current flowing through it may detect different amounts of fault current as a result of varying sensor sensitivities and/or tolerances. When the fault occurs, the circuit breaker closest to the fault should operate to stop current from flowing through the circuit breaker. If a circuit breaker higher in the hierarchy trips, multiple circuits or loads may unnecessarily lose service.
To accommodate for the varying tolerances and to ensure that multiple circuit breakers do not unnecessarily trip based on the same fault current, the current thresholds of at least some known circuit breakers are nested with each other to avoid overlapping fault current thresholds. In some other known systems, circuit breakers in a lower tier send coordination or blocking signals to higher tier circuit breakers upon detection of a fault current. The upper tier circuit breakers' operation is coordinated with the operation of the lower tier circuit breaker in response to the blocking signal. If the circuit breakers in such a system are not installed/connected properly, the blocking/coordination signals may not be received by the higher tier devices.